The Grey Hour
by Flammel
Summary: A young blood elf admires a girl throughout his childhood. Going years with almost no interaction with her it comes as a shock when he gets her as his own personal meat shield for a mission. That particular mission made his life a lot happier after things once shrouded in darkness come to light, giving him a permanent meat shield and beloved. Rating may go up.


He held on tightly to his mothers hand as she dragged him through the streets, stumbling whenever her steps became too large for him to keep up with, prompting her to slow and give her sons hand an apologetic squeeze. His sister beside him had her head shoved in a book, reading about the light she always seemed to prattle on about. His mother lifted him, letting him rest against her hip as she quickly walked towards the bench he usually spent his Sundays on.

She gave a quiet sigh of relief as she sat, happy to have someplace to rest her feet after running errands all day. He was relocated to his mothers lap as his sister, Rossella, took the seat next to her.

He did nothing but watch the other kids run around and play as his mother and sister idly gossiped about whatever it was that caught their attention, occasionally waving to a few of the kids that deemed him good enough for them to acknowledge. He usually never came with his mother and sister to run errands, though he'd recently found a new motivation.

A girl just a little younger than he had caught his eye, her tan skin and light hair making her hard to miss among the others. She didn't do much, she always seemed so content just sitting there, playing with whatever toy seemed to enrapture her that week or whatever stick or leaf she considered pretty enough. Just seeing her sitting under the shade of an overhanging roof brought heat to his cheeks.

His sister set her book down, and turned to their mother, opening her mouth to say something before stopping to examine the pink on her brothers pale face. She looked in the direction her brother seemed so focused on and grinned. What she was going to say earlier wasn't that important in retrospect.

"So, mother," Rossella started, "You know Novivia Cloudseeker?"

"Of course I do!" their mother smiled and turned towards Rossella, "She's such a sweet girl. Very pretty, too. Her looks will get her far in life."

"Yeah, she is really pretty. Which is probably why half of the boys her age have the cutest little crushes on her!" She made a weird gesture with her fingers, as if she were pinching some invisible persons cheeks.

"Oh, don't patronize people younger than you, you're only two years older than them." She laid her hand atop her sons head, gently pulling his hair away from his face.

Rossella ignored her mothers words, favoring to instead humiliate her brother, "Well... she's here now! And guess what?" She leaned in close, looking around as if someone were listening in on top secret info, "Little Keelaen here seems to have a crush on her!" She mock whispered before pulling away giggling.

Keelaens head whipped towards her sporting a very non-threatening glare, "I do not!" He wiggled in his mother lap, outstretching his arms as if to try and grab his sister.

His mother pulled him back and gently pulled on a strand of his hair. "Keel, stop wiggling your arms at Ross, Ross, stop trying to embarrass your brother. I come out here for peace, not for my two children to act like..." She paused reconsidering her words, "Just... stop, be good." she sighed and leaned back, gently laying her head against the back of the bench.

"Yes, mother." Rossella and Keelaen groaned.

* * *

He shuffled along close behind Rossella, her long legs setting a much faster pace than he could ever hope to achieve without jogging as they headed towards where they usually spent their Sundays. The area their bench resided in was quieter than usual, most of the children that used to romp around sitting quietly, murmuring to their friends. Everyone knew what was coming up, there was no way to walk down the street without hearing someone talk about it.

The event had no official name, people usually just referred to it as The Choice, a time in every blood elves life when the children would choose what they'd like to pursue, almost like a coming of age type thing. Some chose to pursue careers pertaining crafting, some chose to fight or heal, some chose both.

Everyone knew that this was important, it's an event that would most definitely change what they did later on in life.

They both took their seats on their usual bench, sitting at different ends so that they may have enough room to put their feet up and face each other. Rossella cleared her throat, shuffling her legs underneath her as Keelaen sat criss-cross applesauce. She stopped and seemed to think of her next words, her mouth opening and closing numerous times leaving Keelaen feeling impatient. He just wanted to know why she shimmied her way onto his outward excursion. She hasn't tagged along his walk to the citizen dubbed 'Park' since the last time her mother ran errands.

She clapped her hands, seeming to have found the words she wished to use.

"So! We both know what's coming up this week! So so so so! I've decided, like the saintly sister I am, that I am going to show you a little priest spell. You know, just to give you a little feel of one of the classes you can choose." She smiled, as if proud of herself.

"What if I don't want to be a priest?" He inquired.

"Then you know a quick little healing spell on top of the other things you'll learn. It's really not that hard." She waved off whatever he was going to say next, "You really can't say no, I mean this is a great opportunity. You have no clue what you want to be, if you even want to be anything! This will at least help you choose, 'cause if you don't like the feel of this you can cross that off your list and you'll have an easier time picking!" She smiled at him, giving him a moment of silence to think over her words.

She did have a point, she was just two years older, sure, but she was one of the more advanced students. She would know more about this than he. He was planning on trying to be a priest anyway, he isn't the fighting type at all, he always shied away from any type of violence.

His shoulders slumped as he sighed, he always hated giving into his sister.

"Fine. What spell?" He straightened and looked up at Rossella.

"Flash heal! Really simple yet powerful spell, it uses a lot of mana though, so we'll probably have to get you water soon."

He listened as she prattled on about the steps, constantly mentioning that it takes both heart and brain to make it work properly. She went through the hand motions, showing him how to channel it, and how to focus it on someone. His attempts flew by quickly, all rushing together in his brain making it all fuzzy, his shortage of mana making it especially harder to remember his failed attempts.

After a quick water break his attempts started up again with much more success. He had managed to heal him and his sister multiple times causing him to beam with pride.

His sister smiled, "You're a natural! I'm so proud!" She pulled him into a crushing hug, the angle at which they were sitting making it all the more uncomfortable. It didn't deter them, however, from trying to squeeze as much air as possible from the other. Rossella, of course, succeeded, as her body had way more muscle tone than Keelaens short, squishy body.

Rossella pulled away, digging around in her bag to grab the waters they had gotten earlier.

Keelaen caught something out of the corner of his eye, his long-time crush, Novivia, was staring at him in awe, her green eyes alight with wonder. She smiled when she saw he was staring back and waved enthusiastically, her long blonde hair swaying slightly with the movement. He blushed and waved back shyly, smiling nervously at her.

Rossella smiled, watching her brother have his first interaction with the girl he adored. She was wondering when they were actually going to interact. His crush on the girl was cute but it got very frustrating when he refused to speak to her at all even though he's had a crush on her since he was a child. She always knew Novivia would interact first, as her brother was a very shy and quiet boy. Today was a good day for him, and she was proud.

"So, Keel. Wanna be a priest?"

He smiled and turned towards her, his cheeks still tinged pink, "Yeah, Ross. Will you teach me as much as you can? I want to get the basics down so I can be ahead of everyone later."

"Abso-fucking-lutely!" She giggled at the look he gave her, "I know you like being the star pupil of the class."

"You can't curse, mother doesn't like it." He frowned.

"Yeah? Well mom isn't here, now is she? So... fuck fuck fuck fuck."

"I'm telling momma."

"Oh, god, please no!"

* * *

**I'll try to update this at least every Wednesday but I make no promises.**

**Thank you for reading!**


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